Chapter 4710: DEBT POOLING COMPANIES

(B) "Debt adjusting" means doing business in
debt adjusting, budget counseling, debt management, or debt pooling service, or
holding oneself out, by words of similar import, as providing services to
debtors in the management of their debts, to do either of the following:

(1) To effect the adjustment, compromise, or
discharge of any account, note, or other indebtedness of the debtor;

(2) To receive from the debtor and disburse
to the debtor's creditors any money or other thing of value.

(C) "Resides" means to
live in a particular place on a temporary or a permanent basis.

(A) Subject
to division (C) of this section, a person engaged in debt adjusting shall do
all of the following:

(1) Unless specifically
instructed otherwise by a debtor, disburse to the appropriate creditors all
funds received from the debtor, less any contributions not prohibited by
division (B) of this section, within thirty days of receipt of the funds from
the debtor;

(2) Maintain a separate
trust account for the receipt of any funds from debtors and the disbursement of
the funds to creditors on behalf of the debtors;

(3) Charge or accept only reasonable fees or
contributions in accordance with division (B) of this section;

(4) Establish and implement a policy that
allows for the waiver or discontinuation of fees or contributions not
prohibited by division (B) of this section if the debtor is unable to pay such
fees or contributions.

(B) If fees or contributions for providing debt
adjusting services are charged or accepted, directly or indirectly, no person
providing or engaged in debt adjusting shall do any of the following:

(1) Charge or accept a fee or contribution
exceeding seventy-five dollars from a debtor residing in this state for an
initial consultation or initial set up of a debt management plan or similar
plan;

(2) Charge or accept
consultation fees or contributions exceeding one hundred dollars per calendar
year from a debtor residing in this state;

(3) Charge or accept a periodic fee or
contribution from a debtor residing in this state for administering a debt
management plan or similar plan, which fee or contribution exceeds eight and
one-half per cent of the amount paid by the debtor each month for distribution
to the debtor's creditors or thirty dollars, whichever is greater.

(C) Division (A) or (B)
of this section does not prohibit a person engaged in debt adjusting for a
debtor who is residing in this state from charging the debtor a reasonable fee
for insufficient funds transactions that is in addition to fees or
contributions not prohibited by division (B) of this section.

(D) Any person that engages in debt
adjusting, annually, shall arrange for and undergo an audit conducted by an
independent, third party, certified public accountant of the person's business,
including any trust funds deposited and distributed to creditors on behalf of
debtors. Both of the following apply to an audit described in this division:

(1) The person shall file the results of the
audit and the auditor's opinion with the consumer protection division of the
attorney general.

(2) The attorney
general shall make available a summary of the results of the audit and the
auditor's opinion upon written request of a person and payment of a fee not
exceeding the cost of copying the summary and opinion.

(E) A person engaged in debt adjusting shall
obtain and maintain at all times insurance coverage for employee dishonesty,
depositor's forgery, and computer fraud in the amount of ten per cent of the
monthly average for the immediate preceding six months of the aggregate amount
of all deposits made with the person by all debtors. The insurance coverage
shall comply with all of the following:

(1)
The insurance coverage is not less than one hundred thousand dollars.

(2) The insurance coverage includes
a deductible that does not exceed ten per cent of the face amount of the policy
coverage.

(3) The insurance
coverage is issued by an insurer rated at least A- or its equivalent by a
nationally recognized rating organization.

(4) The insurance coverage provides that
thirty days advance written notice be given to the consumer protection division
of the attorney general before coverage is terminated.

(A) The federal national mortgage
association; the federal home loan mortgage corporation; a bank, bank holding
company, trust company, savings and loan association, credit union, savings
bank, or credit card bank, that is regulated by the office of the comptroller
of currency, office of thrift supervision, federal reserve, federal deposit
insurance corporation, national credit union administration, or division of
financial institutions; or to subsidiaries of any of these entities;

(A) Any
violation of division (F)(1) of section
4710.02 of the Revised Code is
deemed an unfair or deceptive act or practice in violation of section
1345.02 of the Revised Code. A
person injured by a violation of that division has a cause of action and is
entitled to the same relief available to a consumer under section
1345.09 of the Revised Code, and
all the powers and remedies available to the attorney general to enforce
sections 1345.01 to
1345.13 of the Revised Code are
available to the attorney general to enforce division (F)(1) of section
4710.02 of the Revised Code.

(B) Any person who violates
division (F)(2) of section
4710.02 of the Revised Code, in
addition to the penalties imposed by section
4710.99 of the Revised Code, shall
be fined not more than ten thousand dollars for each violation.

Whoever violates division (F) of section
4710.02 of the Revised Code is
guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree for a first offense and a
misdemeanor of the second degree for any subsequent offense.